News Updates

The former principal of a Dade County (Fla.) high school that was
stripped of its National School of Excellence award has been charged
with falsifying the attendance and enrollment records that helped the
school win the award.

The Dade County State Attorney's office has charged Michael
Kesselman with two first-degree misdemeanor counts of falsifying public
records during the 1989-90 school year. If convicted, Mr. Kesselman
could face a $2,000 fine and up to two years in jail.

The former principal, who is now teaching social studies at another
school, has denied any wrongdoing.

Last September, the school board released the findings of its
investigation, which confirmed local press accounts that someone at the
school had falsified records in order to win the award. (See Education
Week, Jan. 9, 1991.)

A federal judge has agreed to delay for a year the opening of a new
Montessori school in Dallas.

U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders agreed late last month that the
Dallas school district could not open the school by the 1991-92 school
year as he had ordered under the district's desegregation plan. (See
Education Week, Jan. 30, 1990.) He allowed an extension until the
1992-93 school year, but also ordered that the Harry Stone Middle
School, which will house the new program, be vacated at the end of this
school year so renovation can begin.

The American Medical Association entered the debate over dissection in
precollegiate science classes last week by charging that animal-rights
groups have misled people into contributing money to publish
"anti-science" materials that they then distribute free to
"impressionable children."

Dr. Daniel H. Johnson, vice speaker of the ama's House of Delegates,
said last week in Atlanta that the press conference marked the
beginning of the association's efforts "to fight back" against a
"tremendous anti-intellectual threat from animal extremists."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a Washington-based
animal\rights organization that espouses total abstinence from the use
of animals and animal products, began campaigning this spring to have
dissection banned from K-12 schools. (See Education Week, Feb. 20,
1991.)

"We're going to start [fighting back] by calling [the peta campaign]
what it is ... a frontal attack on science in the schools," Mr. Johnson
said.

The American Medical Association entered the debate over dissection
in precollegiate science classes last week by charging that
animal-rights groups have misled people into contributing money to
publish "anti-science" materials that they then distribute free to
"impressionable children."

Dr. Daniel H. Johnson, vice speaker of the ama's House of Delegates,
said last week in Atlanta that the press conference marked the
beginning of the association's efforts "to fight back" against a
"tremendous anti-intellectual threat from animal extremists."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a Washington-based
animal\rights organization that espouses total abstinence from the use
of animals and animal products, began campaigning this spring to have
dissection banned from K-12 schools. (See Education Week, Feb. 20,
1991.)

"We're going to start [fighting back] by calling [the peta campaign]
what it is ... a frontal attack on science in the schools," Mr. Johnson
said.

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